DIRTY DOZEN

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers can now say they have something in common with their parent ball club.

In May 1931, the Cleveland Indians lost a franchise-high 12 straight, a streak which still stands. The ‘31 Tribe went on to finish with a winning record (78-76); however, they finished 30 games behind Philadelphia (107-45).

The Scrappers now are also owners of a 12-game losing streak. The franchise-longest streak was extended Sunday when the Scrappers fell to Vermont 5-1 in front of 2,726 fans at Eastwood Field

It remains to be seen how many games out of first place the Scrappers will be at the end of the season. However, it would be a mighty tall task for them to duplicate the feat of the ‘31 Tribe and finish above .500.

The Scrappers are 7-21 and trail Jamestown by 10.5 games in the Pinkney Division of the New York-Penn League. They would have to go 32-16 to finish 39-37.

On Sunday, the Scrappers tried everything to turn their luck, including an impromptu pregame bat-burning ceremony.

“We went out into the parking lot and sacrificed five bats,” admitted Scrappers outfielder Josh McAdams. “We just burned them up. They weren’t giving us the hits we needed.”

The Scrappers were able to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Manuel Boscan singled with one out, advanced to second on a McAdams base hit, then went to third on a walk. One out later, Boscan scored on a sacrifice fly by Brian Ruiz.

But from that point on, the Scrappers were able to muster just two hits. Meanwhile, Vermont heated up, scoring a run in both the third and fifth innings.

The Lake Monsters then put the game away with a three-run eighth inning. Ryan Huck homered off the left-field foul pole to open the inning. Three batters later, Luke Baez belted a towering drive over the second wall in left field.

McAdams admitted that while the team hasn’t quit playing hard, morale is low inside the clubhouse.

“It’s not really good right now,” McAdams said. “People are throwing things, people are upset. It’s frustrating.

“But that’s the way the game goes. That’s baseball. I know I will continue to play as hard as I can every time I step on the field, and I know my teammates will do the same thing.”

If things don’t turn around soon, McAdams says that more bats may be destined to go up in smoke.

“Tomorrow is a new day, but if we don’t pick up a win, we may just have to go out back and burn some more wood,” McAdams said.

A Scrappers fan suffered a head injury after being struck by a foul ball in the top of the third inning.

The female was seated in section 203, behind the first base dugout. She was about 12 rows up from the walkway which separates the field seats from the box seats.

The unidentified fan was attended to by medics at her seat for approximately 15 minutes, then taken out of the stadium in a wheelchair. She had a visible open wound on the top of her head. She refused to be transferred to a hospital by ambulance.